1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to online, automatically compensated tube benders which compensate for springback.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various devices have been advanced for attempting to compensate for spring back, but most require fairly complex instrumentation and calculations. U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,525, issued June 28, 1974, illustrates a method and apparatus for automatically compensated tube bending, which uses instrumentation for detecting springback, through a springback detector at the tube clamping die, and which then utilizes the information about the amount of detected spring back for controlling further bends. A calibration run using a tube of the desired material is needed, and the information therefrom is used to produce subsequent tubing of the same characteristics. The subsequent tubing must have the same or sufficiently similar characteristics to make the bending reliable.
The present device is most suited for online bending of tubes that require multiple bends, so that the tubes can be bent precisely and automatically using the desired parameters.